On 8/7/17 at about 2050 hrs CCSO deputies responded to a call on Nicolai Cutoff Road and Wilbur Road. The reporting party was Brandon McKay, who was later identified as the driver of a small pickup that had been pulling a go cart. The go cart had reportedly crashed into a tree and gone down an small embankment with an 11- year-old boy still inside the go cart. The boy was taken by Lifeflight helicopter to Emanuel hospital and was still in intensive care at last report this morning.

McKay, 22, Rainier, told investigators he had gone to the intersection of Nicolai Cutoff Road and Wilbur Road to tell his nephews that it was time to come home. He stated the boy asked him to hook up the go cart they had pushed to the location to the back of his truck. McKay said he tied a long rope to the front frame of the go cart to the back of his bumper, and the boy, who was reportedly wearing a go cart harness and a helmet and said he would steer the go cart.

McKay said that after he ascertained that the boy was able to steer the go cart, he began towing the cart with the boy in it at at a speed between 15 and 20 mph -- looking back periodically while driving. Shortly after beginning to tow the cart, McKay said the cart began veering off to the right side of the road towards the shoulder and a tree just beyond the roadway. McKay stated he braked and stalled the truck, but too late, as he saw the go cart hit the tree and proceed down the embankment, tipping over onto its side.

McKay rushed to the boy's aid and called 9-1-1. McKay identified the injured boy as his nephew, who visiting with his grandparents in the Rainier area at the time of the crash. The boy resides with parents in Portland.

McKay voluntarily submitted to alcohol and drug testing, and preliminary results showed no signs of intoxication. The cause of the crash remains under investigation.